The invention relates to an apparatus for separating solid particles from a fluid.
European patent application, publication No. 206 399, discloses an apparatus for separating solid particles from a fluid comprising a swirl chamber having a curved wall, a tangential inlet and a solids outlet, both extending perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis of the swirl chamber and being in fluid communication with the swirl chamber, and a coaxial fluid outlet tube extending through the wall of the swirl chamber.
In operation a mixture of fluid and solid particles enters the swirl chamber of the known apparatus through its tangential inlet. The mixture flows along the curved wall between the tangential inlet and the solids outlet. Part of the solids are removed through the solids outlet. The path of these solid particles is less than the circumference at the inner surface of the wall. This results in a short residence time of these solid particles.
Inherent to the arrangement of the inlet opening and the outlet opening in the known apparatus is that during operation a relatively high percentage of solid particles, especially the finer particles, is discharged through the fluid outlet tube rather than through the solids outlet.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for separating solid particles from a fluid, wherein the residence time of the particles in the apparatus is short and wherein both the coarser and the finer particles are separated from the fluid.